Gynecologic oncologist strives to improve access to health care for all
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Editor's Note: This is part two of a three-part Healio Exclusive series on Women on a Mission. Part one can be viewed here.
In medical school, Haley Arden Moss, MD, MBA, had the opportunity to work with the Obama Administration when the Affordable Care Act had just passed.
That time fueled the passion inside her to work toward improving access to health insurance and reducing the costs of cancer care for all.
A research-heavy career followed, with Moss publishing a significant amount on the Affordable Care Act’s impact on cancer care and the expansion of Medicaid.
“I am very proud of that research as it made the clear connection between improved access to health insurance and more timely, efficient and high-quality cancer care,” Moss, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the division of gynecologic oncology at Duke Cancer Institute and director of the Breast and Gynecologic Oncology System of Excellence at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Oncology Program Office, told Healio.
Moss now devotes half of her working schedule at Duke University — where she is a clinical gynecologic oncologist — and the other half as director of the VA’s Breast and Gynecologic Oncology System of Excellence — a program to improve the quality of care for veterans diagnosed with breast and gynecologic cancers.
“I quickly jumped at the opportunity [at the VA], knowing it was a truly unique position that would combine my interest in advocacy policy and cancer care,” she said.
Voter initiatives
During undergrad training, Moss worked in a clinic providing support services for people with HIV and AIDS. That time further brought the correlation between access to health insurance and good medical care to the forefront of her mind.
“I was drawn to voter initiatives, including Get Out the Vote, and research on the impact of Medicaid expansion on the outcomes of patients with cancer,” Moss said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about policy and this practice in our country in which legislators determine who is deserving of health insurance and whether or not health insurance is a universal right. We as researchers and clinicians need to make it clear that patient outcomes are far worse without health insurance.”
Moss is also involved with Vot-ER, a program that provides civic engagement tools and programs for health care providers to register voters in clinics and hospitals where they work.
“Vot-ER is amazing,” she said. “You are given a voter badge for free, and on the back of the badge is a QR code where individuals can find out whether they’re registered to vote. If not registered, we can get them registered before an upcoming election. It’s a really great way to advocate for our patients.”
Moss credits mentorship and the collaboration she’s had with individuals outside of medicine as key factors of her success.
“My job satisfaction and success comes a lot from having incredible mentors who do not necessarily do exactly what I do,” she said. “Much of the research work that I’ve done involved colleagues in oncology, but also outside of medicine. It is important to ensure that you have a network of colleagues from different fields. Being able to work with statisticians or expertise in the analysis of large datasets is essential to understanding policy interventions, you cannot just be a clinician to answer these questions. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people outside of your clinical scope. Much of my success came from collaborations with nonclinical thought leaders.”
‘Not a political issue’
Affordable health insurance shouldn’t be a political issue, according to Moss, but instead all patients deserve access to good medical care.
“It doesn't matter what political party you are affiliated with — you can care that patients have access to medical treatment,” she said. “Health care and access to insurance in our country has become such a political issue. Everyone knows that our country is quite divided right now, and, unfortunately, I don't see that changing anytime soon.
“It shouldn't matter whether or not someone can afford health insurance to get the same cancer treatment as someone else, but for some reason it does,” she added. “There will always be different political parties that will have different ideas of how health insurance should be paid for. We need to humanize health care more — talk less about the dollars and start talking about patient care. That is ultimately what it should be about.”
For more information:
Haley Arden Moss, MD, MBA, can be reached at haley.moss@duke.edu.
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